How To Keep Your New Year’s Motivation Over The Months

I guess, that most of you made some New Year’s resolutions in terms of staying fit and healthy and achieving your goals. Now, that the first weeks of 2015 have passed by, ask yourself, if you still uphold the commitments you made or if you rather fell back into what I call the “comfort zone behaviour”. It’s a normal thing, that you usually can’t uphold all the commitments because you either set unrealistic goals or you don’t manage to implement useful strategies to achieve them.

This is why I want to cover today the topic motivation and tell you how to keep your New Year’s motivation over the months.

1. Specify your goals!

First of all, you should specify your goals. Goals like “get fitter”, “eat healthier” or “exercise more”are pretty vague. You cannot measure, when you will have achieved this goal or monitor your success. This is why it is useful to define measureable goals. You could use a certain weight or a particular dress size you wish to achieve. Or, depending what you are aiming for, you could also use a desired dimension of your arms, legs or belly or a certain time you wish to beat in your workouts. Ideally you set a manageable deadline for these goals.

2. Visualize your goals!

Visualization is very powerful. Keep a picture of what you want to achieve and internalize it. Pin the picture somewhere, where you can look at it several times a day. It can be useful to put it on the Sweets cupboard or the fridge, particularly if you are often overwhelmed by cravings.

3. Set achievable goals!

The biggest mistake, why many of us fail, is setting unrealistic goals. If you are severely obese, it might not be helpful to pin a picture showing a zero size super model at you fridge. Frustration will be awfull and you will easily fall back into your confort zone behaviour. Setting achievable goals helps you staying motivated. There is much more space for rewards, if you achieve a number of goals over the month.

4. Define subgoals!

Some of us have a big dream. This can include losing half of your weight, becoming a body builder, passing a marathon or anything else. Forget about what advertisers tell you. You will never achieve these huge goals over night. In order to prevent frustration, it is very helpful to define subgoals. These subgoals match the tips I profided in point 1. You can also create a workout plan, where you insert the goals you’d like to achieve in a certain period of time. This helps you to stay focussed and motivated.

5. Find buddies to work with!

It is always easier to work out in a group than lonely in your home. Most people fail by training at home. Find a group that meets regularly. Motivate each other and achieve your goals as part of a team.

I hope that this short list of tips helps you to stay focussed and to Keep your New Year’s Motivation over the months.